The present disclosure relates to a toner collector used in an image forming apparatus such as a printer and collects toner, and to an image forming apparatus including the same.
In electrophotographic image forming apparatuses such as a copier, a printer, and a fax machine, toner is supplied to an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier (a photosensitive drum and a transfer belt, for example), and the electrostatic latent image is developed, whereby a toner image is formed on the image carrier. The toner is stored in a developing device, and is supplied to the image carrier through a developing roller disposed in the developing device.
Image forming apparatuses including a dust collector (toner collector) for collecting scattered toner have conventionally been known. This technique has, however, the following problem. Specifically, scattered toner drops from a filter due to the vibration of a vibrating mechanism and clogs a lower section of the filter, causing the collection performance for the scattered toner to be degraded.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a toner collector that can prevent the filter from clogging and can stably collect the toner, and an image forming apparatus including the same.